withdrawal of over thirty thousand troops from afghanistan is one of the main pledges and barack obama's state of the union address we examine the foreign policy areas that he wasn't exactly keen to talk about. silence is broken israeli media lifts a shroud of secrecy over the death of an alleged secret agent in custody despite the government trying very hard to keep it quiet. and with europeans paying some of the highest taxes in the world the wealthy flee to places that one takes such a hefty slice. a lot from moscow this is r.t. . with

a worldwide welcome to the program barack obama used the first state of the union address of his second term to try and appease lawmakers and taxpayers making fresh promises to boost the economy and slash the debt on the issue of foreign policy though the us president did announce that thirty four thousand troops will be leaving afghanistan by next february all season he said now and i joins me live in the studio here to bring us more on this and he said good to see you again today so a mixed bag of statements there from president obama's state of the union can you give us some of the main highlights sore than that big announcement on afghanistan top the address after over eight decades of war troops are coming home in twenty fourteen according to obama now the president pointed out there are two missions at hangout preparing afghan forces to take over so that the country does not slip into chaos again keyword there again it seems almost as if it's now a stable place but just today ten civilians were reported. killed in

a nato strike targeting taliban insurgents now while obama spent most of his speech talking about the economy and taxes he failed to mention that so far the u.s. has invested over one hundred billion dollars in reconstruction of afghanistan and that this year it's expected another thirty billion could be spent in aid this as the afghan state is rated one of the most corrupt in the world now despite red flags from watchdogs monitoring aid they say there's no way of ensuring all this money is going to the right place or whose hands the cash is falling into and that it's too dangerous in many places in afghanistan to safely observe what's happening former m.p. . says some have become very rich including western officials while most afghans have been left with nothing many countries thrive on this war they make money there in goes their un people are others who are lined up and making fat salaries and

while the life of afghan ordinary afghans have not changed we of course we have had some things like media like communication in this and that but. in relation to what was available and what could have been done it's a drop in the bucket. now obama spoke of defending democracy across the globe most notably the arab spring which has previously been held a great success by his administration especially libya egypt and tunisia all countries that are now drowning in chaos and violence two years on while obama has changed his tune a bit now saying well it's going to be messy those transitions also his tone on syria a big distin considering a year ago the u.s. was insisting president go now saying they will continue to put pressure on the syrian leader now another pledge from obama to continue to push for legal and durable policy on counterterrorism no mention of though of guantanamo drones or

wiretapping and obama did mention internet freedoms well sort of he flaunted signing an executive order on cyber defense but the order is really seen as a response to congress's refusal to pass the cyber intelligence sharing and protection act or sis last year that was in light of serious privacy concerns in other words as a loophole for sis to be put into action there you have it very nice and always thank you. discussing the high points and i suppose perhaps the low points as well of the american president's state of the union mr president obama was talking about the future others have been taking aim there were his plans for stricter gun control. and listen. to what people are saying protestors in the state of new york demonstrate against the restrictions slapped on them by the authorities following the sandy hook school

massacre last december more of that to come this hour. a veil of silence over the death of a top secret prisoner has been lifted by the israeli media we had been gagged by a court order it surfaced following the report in the australian press about a man linked to the israeli secret service who hanged himself in prison after months of being held in secret details not swansea's polis. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu summoned the editors of all the major israeli news outlets to an emergency meeting and in that meeting he asked them not to publish the story saying and i'm quoting that it would be embarrassing to a certain government agency not at first the editors did listen and all references to the original australian report were removed from israeli news websites but later it was brought back not only to the websites but also to all the radio and t.v. stations here and certainly sincerely also this morning it has been the headline

news everyone though is referencing it as a report from australia not what we understand is that israeli parliament are instead off the justice minister to confirm whether or not this report was true they also demanded to know if they were other prisoners who were being held in secret in israeli jails the justice minister's comments were and i'm quoting that there is no doubt that if this information is accurate this is something that needs to be checked state since it gave news outlets in israel the green light to report on this parliamentary debate but nothing else but of course we're witnessing now that the reporting has gone much further than just this debate such a gag order it is important to say it is highly unusual in israel way state military sense is normally an hour of the local media to quote selling solicitors on controversial topics such as the alleged israeli strike in syria last month what we also understand is that various human rights groups such as human rights watch

as well as the israeli civil rights movement has been aware of this particular incident for quite some time now the australian media is reporting that this man came to live in israel when he was a youngster he made what is called idea and he was recruiting on the stand by the side of these raiding secret service something went wrong and we've been given no reason for him being in prison and that they respect the nation that it would have had to be connected somehow with espionage and sensitive state secrets the. former foreign minister avigdor lieberman has said that left wing parliamentarians have damaged israeli security by bringing this issue to the fore in the first place. r.t. correspondent paula slim reporting there now tax hikes are still the default plan for e.u. nations trying to get out of debt but europe's super rich aren't exactly happy about having to hand over buckets of their own cash. or all of a found out low tax nations are suddenly looking very tempting to them

he's a leading man of stage and screen however european heads of state will be hoping share our debt by do doesn't become the leader of a tax exodus but the super rich front lawns decision to push through a seventy five percent top rate of tax on those earning over one million euros saw the actor up sticks and head to russia europe has some of the highest rates of taxation in the world with many giving the lion's share of the things to the state of vermont feel the need can be a balancing act of course you want to run a successful business but if you make over a certain amount you find yourself paying out huge quantities of tax over fifty percent don't. there are warnings for europe that when compared to low tax countries like russia they could lose their competitive edge if they're a country with low taxes and with high taxes capital flow well to country with

a low tax and the same is true for people with talent there's always going to be people that think the taxes are too high but a growing number actually starting to think that it's becoming detrimental to the development of business but he can't owns a whole it company in munich currently he employs around ninety people transporting everything from the small to the big and bulky all over mainland europe he says that lowering the current rate of tax would not just make big changes to his business but also to the lives of his staff that's where not only can his will. he would be super first i could pay higher salaries this is a very important issue right now due to the rise in the cost of living also i can invest more into the company and grow the business even employ more people everyone benefits something that is impossible under the current tax system and that those in power argue that the problem in european countries right now is that taxpayers

want to have the best of both worlds big management of the phenomenon we face regarding taxes is that everyone wants to pay as little as possible however no one is willing to give up the services that those taxes go to pay for them few signs of any major tax cuts on the horizon in your businesses like this one going to have to continue to struggle to bring home the bacon but it comes to saving fifty development peter all of a r.t. . it's. time to. end faith teaching religious schools spread across. the more than two decades of being banned under the previous regime leaving many a law about the possible spread of radicalism we investigate whether islam in schools is good for young minds and that report is just ahead for you. on the testing telling the u.n. security council vows to tighten sanctions on north korea defies international

regulations and explodes a nuclear bomb under a remote mountain range all those details on will off to the short break. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realize everything. is a big picture. thank

you for joining us here. in the russian capital the religious state of education is making a serious comeback in tunisia it's two years after the regime which banned the teaching of islam was toppled by the current government has no control of private muslim schools springing up all across the country could be that they're actually spreading extremism. visited one school where the koran is the main subject.

tunisia's learned some tough lessons in the wake of its revolt but now the report card for what's going on in its schools is facing examination in the school in one of the poorest districts of the tunisian capital children come to learn about the qur'an and the way of life of true muslims religious education was banned under the old regime but it's making a comeback in a big way the rise of islam islam has led to an increase in the number of religious schools are springing up across the country these schools are private operating outside of the control of state officials who have no say over what's being taught in these schools and some worry that this may lead to a rise in the number of young extremists even many religious experts agree filling young minds with religious doctrines may not be the best way to bring up children. what. i read in one of the papers sent by a three year old girl to her mother with a message my beloved mom teach me about the afterlife the same way you teach about

this life is this a way to teach three year old children we can see it clearly attempts to brainwash these children dr from loony carried out an extensive research of religious schools and to nice to find out whether critics were right to say that they were damaging to the country's post revolutionary development she found most schools were primarily focused on teaching strict islamic values without worrying about the effect these methods may have on youngsters. i have noticed that all female teachers at these schools where any cub while teaching you can't see her face this is in contradiction with what's known in psychology as communication how can she communicate with the kids if her face is covered emotions and movement of vital to kids and social interaction such things do not contradict our values and morals. but parents who send their children to study of these schools believe they are on the right track. educating our children with muslim values is the way to ensure

that they will lead a proper life from childhood studying the koran improves memory increases thinking abilities and says the right course for the rest of their lives. at the moment not even the ministry of education is able to say exactly how many religious schools there are in tunisia after the revolution they sprung up over the country many operating without license from the state the government has acknowledged the problem but has its hands full trying to keep the economy together meaning education is on the backburner it's this absence of control that especially worries tunisians on top of the concerns about extremist salafist groups gaining ground. these groups don't believe in democracy republic and freedom they consider them to be against their religion they want to impose their way of life on by force as if they know better than other people after the arab spring revolt tunisians were eager to embrace what they hoped would be

a new way of life but with radical islam permeating more and more spheres of everyday life these children's future i mean not be exactly what many parents had hoped for in their quest for freedom and democracy in tunisia. r.t. . of course so many more stories and some brilliant videos for you on. what's. taking a. resident of new york with. high ranking officials and.

now the u.n. security council has promised more sanctions against north korea. the international community and third and most powerful nuclear. ultimately. china north korea's serious. i was among those to join the worldwide chorus of condemnation. says that. recent leadership changes in the region have created an atmosphere.

could be applied or are already being applied so it's really fall into a lot of diplomatic pressure on china to use its leverage with north korea and i imagine that officials in beijing my. have known that this this was coming probably in the next few days and it certainly is it couldn't have happened at a worse time internationally speaking it's the lunar new year in china so basically the entire country is on holiday and in the u.s. there is no confirmed secretary of defense or central intelligence director so it's a very interesting time to throw that through into that the wild card of xi jinping we don't know much about him or how he's going to lead china and the fact that kim jong un is a relatively new leader as well you also have the new army government in japan and there's a lot of wildcards in this mix to see how this is going to shake out but i think on the question of china specifically i think it does have the most leverage over north korea at this point and certainly a lot of aid and support comes from china so i think they have

a lot of pressure that they can put on north korea at this point ok from north korea now to iran where un nuclear inspectors are right there in iran now they're pushing for a wider access to its secret of facilities tehran says it's open for talks and may allow a visit to the parchin military complex which. some suspect is used to hold atomic experiments nuclear security expert matthew mcallester he says it's a promising move but only direct talks between tehran and washington can ultimately resolve it all. if the international society and i ate meat inspectors are allowed in that's this is definitely going to be or very good sign from it on our to international society that it has to be mentioned that the. this would not be the first star and i would go into power to. the board if i'm not mistaken for the times and i have not found anything but still concerns i have to raise it on that has not yet replied to questions posed to them one thing many analysts attend to

the green on that is that in order to in order to stop the whole crisis the ringing crisis as there is a need for direct hearing in american products and this is something that we are not seeing at all. starting with thailand let's get into the on sea world update now one thousand insurgents were killed after they launched a pre-dawn assault on a military base in the country's south over one hundred heavily armed fighters stormed the marine camp on the malaysian border the troops did repel the attack suffering no injuries themselves the rate is the heaviest millicent's of type of several years in the rest of south. where police used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse hundreds of protesters in the country's capital one day before the two year anniversary of the uprising people marched in the streets carrying flags and chanting and government slogans accusing the ruling regime of corruption

and human rights violations have been staging demonstrations since early two thousand and eleven all the while demanding political reform and i want the removal of the ruling family and blaming them for the violent crackdown on protests. and it is to hand over the syrian embassy in the capital doha to the opposition syrian national coalition opposition leader and news out of hierarchy who claims he was recently appointed as ambassador to. says the handover is just formal procedure to acknowledging his new post the national coalition was formed in doha eighteen months ago and was recognized by another gulf states as syria's representative. nearly four million british adults have never had any form of paid work in their lives that's also more than the population of wales and a recent court ruling or some of the schemes to get people into work as unlawful

the whole explanation to a correspondence. university graduate kate riley and forty year old jamison wilson succeeded in their claims that their unpaid work that they were made to take part in was indeed a little for them a small but significant victory now the law is that that ruling say it would mean that thousands of people who have their benefits stripped from the under similar circumstances in this government work program could reclaim that money that could leave the door open to millions of pounds compensation that would be footed by the taxpayer of course that's causing a lot of concern are thieves done its own investigation into the work program in response to what's the government has said that it was read to suggest that there were any problems with the work program and that it wasn't helping people get back into work but look this is being quite embarrassing for the government today now

speak to us more about this i'm joined by amery o'reilly for the boycott workfare program thank you very much for joining us a small victory do you think that far enough because on the surface of it it seems like a big deal and a win the obviously the people involved in that but is this going to be as hard hitting and as far reaching well today's ruling is really significant for us it shows that workfare forced on paid work in the u.k. isn't just wrong it's also been unlawful but you're right it doesn't go far enough to still a lot to be done one of this my significant schemes mandatory work activity is still intact and really disturbingly the government threatening to bring emergency regulations through to bring workfare straight back in the future controversial loads of criticism about these government work schemes but they are schemes that are in place and the government's quite right getting people back into jobs are they not unemployment in the u.k. the moment is a huge huge issue but the government nice that these schemes don't work instead of

helping create jobs what they're doing is replacing paid work effect. replacing jobs that would exist if the schemes were employés not only that the governments are using these schemes to massage the unemployment figures because when people are forced to work without pay on the schemes they can't count them as having a job a very strange definition of having a job where not a single person is receiving a wage for them before one graduate who is on the program certainly a small but significant victory in a fluid that k. fed today it certainly means that the government now has to go back to the drawing board when it comes to their work schemes. to sarah first now with barack obama focused on stricter gun control it's already dividing the country many americans believe he's taking them down the wrong path the state of new york is the first to fall into line flagging up customers who buy large amounts of ammunition and introducing health checks for potential gun owners are going to report on how the people there are taking it. the big apple business as usual. a

few hours by train the empire state capital. as the united states remains divided when it comes to what to do with guns in this country after a recent series of shootings hundreds of anti-gun control protesters gathered outside the state capitol building in albany hear the toughest state law on firearms in the us after the sandy hook elementary school shooting the safe fact was passed a month ago. and those whose guns are at stake are far from happy do i look like a terrorist because they look like a fanatic among other provisions the new state law bans weapon sales over the web restricts ammo magazines to seven bullets include stricter background checks and regular the certification cuomo signed that law in a mill and i without these three days for to be allowing the people to read it.

these protesters say their second amendment right to bear arms under the u.s. constitution is being stepped on by the legislators in need to smarten up and listen you get the garbage out in your ears and listen to what the people are saying gun owners believe politicians are looking for criminals in the wrong places i've been going to owner for thirty years and now some of the guns i have in my locker are now illegal well i've never had a. parking ticket in my life there's nothing wrong with good law abiding citizens had firearms it's just it's an assessment because this legislation is not going to stop hardened criminals obsessed with firearms it's not going to stop drug dealers it's not going to stop murderers it's not going to stop latest so what is the answer as the u.s. struggles to find common ground on where the gun debate should take the country next i think the fear fine if anyone does a crime with a gun here. no slap on the hand no four zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero

and that is. what you see in this country while the position of these gun advocates is clear what remains to be seen is whether the us as a whole can ever come to a compromise and especially if you're going r r t albany. the whole dilemma of gun control that's also been brought up in our special report will become your way after this short break. we're. going to the. science technology innovation all the least of elements from around russia we've got the future covered.